Resilient nail file



1943. R. J. POUECH RESILIENT NAIL FILE Filed Aug. 14, 1941 OIHMONPPHRT/CLES INVENTOR fiE/VE J. POUECH BY Q KLC! HTTO RN EY ?aiented aFara.i9, 3%43 RESILIENT NAIL FILE Ren J. Pouech, New York, N. Y., asslgnor toCartier, Inc, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationAugust 14, 1941, Serial No. 406,764

2 Claims.

This invention is a resilient nail file embodying a resilient metallicblank to a portion of at least one face of which is adhesively secureddiamond particles to form the abrasive surface or surfaces of the file.

The metallic blank may be formed from the precious or base metals andmay be made correspondingly hard or soft as desired. The diamondparticles are preferably relatively fine and are disposed over thesurfaces of the blank, preferably in a layer of substantially oneparticle thickness. They are caused to adhere to the surface of theblank by means of an adhesive which strongly bonds with both the diamondparticles and the metal of the blank. This adhesive must be of aflexible nature, in contradistinction to brittle adhesives, so as topermit the normal fiexing of the file without disrupting the adhesivewith consequent release of the diamond particles.

The object of the invention is to provide a nail file which will remainefiicient through long periods of use and which may be economically andeasily manufactured without the employment of expensive apparatus or theuse of high temperatures or great pressures.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will beapparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of theinvention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood asillustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a nail file embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmental section of a portion of suchfile.

In manufacturing the file of the present invention I stamp out from anyappropriate sheet metal a blank I of the desired nail file shape. Theedges of this blank are first smoothed in any appropriate way so thatthey will not be unduly sharp. I next apply to the surface of the blank,which is to serve as the abrading portion, an appropriate adhesive 2.Both sides of the blank may be made abrasive, if desired, but, forillustrative purposes, I have shown a file with only one abrasivesurface.

The adhesive employed may be any one of a wide variety of thermoplastic,thermosetting. heat drying or air drying adhesives or filmformingsubstances, including natural and synthetic resins which do, and othersof which do not, require heat treatment in their manipulation andconversion into final set condition. Casein or other plastics may alsobe employed. The adhesive 2 is applied to the portion of the blank to betreated in a uniform layer, and thereafter diamond particles 3 aredeposited on the adhesive coating and they are preferably pressed intothe coating, so as bed into the adhesive layer as shown in Figure 2.Light pressure is sufficient for this purpose. In practice, the adhesivelayer should be of a thickness less than the size of the diamondparticles, so that a portion of each particle will project beyond saidlayer when seated therein to leave clear sharp edges to carry out theabrasive function.

In practice, the layer of diamond particles is preferably of oneparticle thickness, as shown in Figure 2, for by this arrangement, I amable to obtain a maximum abrasive area with a minimum quantity ofdiamond grit and thus economize in this material. A single particlethickness is found to be thoroughly efficient and satisfactory, as humannail growths are relatively soft and do not cause excessive wearing awayof the adhesive surface or dulling of the edges between the facets ofthe diamond particles.

After the diamond particles have been applied as stated, they becamepermanently secured in fixed position by the application of heat or byair drying, or by light pressure drying or otherwise, depending upon theparticular adhesive employed. If a thermoplastic adhesive is used theadhesive may be softened by heat during the pressing of the diamondparticles into the coating thereof and the implement thereafterpermitted to cool, so that the adhesive will set to hold the particlesin place. With some adhesives baking may be resorted to for solidyingthe adhesive, while in other cases air drying will be sufiicient. In anyevent, an adhesive should be used which has such suflicient inherentelasticity or flexibility that the blank may be flexed withoutdisrupting the coating or releasing the diamond particles therefrom.Many flexible coatings are well known which will effectually serve as anadhesive for use with this invention and the invention is therefore notlimited to any particular adhesive.

This invention, while adapted for incdi'poration in all nail files, isespecially applicable in the jewelry line where the blank may be madefrom precious or other metals. In such environment very beautifuleffects may be produced by using colored adhesives against which thediamond particles stand out in sparkling relief. Water white adhesivesmay, however, be used where desired so as to permit the beauty of thediamond particles to appear in natural form.

I am aware that diamond particles have heretofore been used inconnection with the manufacture of tools, more particularly inconnection with the making of abrasive grinding wheels,

and the like. In this latter environment, it has been the practice toprepare a mixture of diamond particles and a binder, then spread thismixture, sometimes in plastic and sometimes in dry form on a rigidbacking and then by the application of either or both great heat andpressures, sometimes with attendant vulcanizing operation, to amalgamatethe whole into a grinding wheel structure. These mixtures, wherein thediamond particles are scattered in substantially uniform dispersionthroughout a relatively thick mass, permit the freeing of the surfaceparticles from the mass as they become worn and dull during the wearingdown of the wheel, in order that the wheel will not lose its efllciencyas a grinder. The present invention contemplates no such mode ofoperation. It does not embody this homogeneous mixture type ofconstruction. On the contrary, the sharp edges of a substantially singlethickness layer of particles are not covered by or encased within abinder at any time. These particles are merely set into an appropriateanchorage with a material portion of their sharp edges exposed beyondthe surface of the adhesive layer in which they are added.

In the preferred form of the invention the nail file is resilient andembodies a resilient metal blank. It is possible, however, to obtainsome of the advantages of the invention in a rigid or substantiallyrigid file and this may be accomplished by using a rigid or semirigidmetal blank in lieu of the resilient blank hereinbefore described. In arigid or substantially rigid file, the adhesive also need notnecessarily be a flexible adhesive.

The foregoing detailed descriptionsets forth the invention in itspreferred practical form and the invention is to be understood as fullycommensurate with the appended claims.

The manner of making a nail file, as hereinbefore described, constitutesa novel method also forming part of the present invention.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A nail file comprising a metal nail file blank, a layer of solidifiedadhesive over at least a portion of the surface of said blank and firmlyadhering directly thereto, and a substantially one particle thicknesslayer of diamond particles in uncoated natural condition bedded in andpermanently secured in said adhesive layer with appreciable portions ofthe individual particles projecting beyond the surface of said adhesivelayer.

2. The method of making a nail file which comprises stamping a nail fileblank from metal, applying adhesive to at least a portion of the surfaceof said blank in a layer of less thickness than the layer of diamondparticles to be embedded therein, placing on said adhesive layer asubstantially one particle thickness layer of diamond particles in loosecondition, pressing said particles to seat in the adhesive layer, andthere after setting the adhesive layer to permanently bond the diamondparticles to the blank.

RENE J. POUECH.

